With summer blockbuster season on the horizon, movie watchers are kissing their couches goodbye.
The release of highly anticipated movies like “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” last Friday and “A Quiet Place Part II” and “Cruella” over Memorial Day Weekend spurred an energetic return to theaters for moviegoers hoping to cure their cabin fever. Other film fans longed to nosh on movie-theater popcorn and soak up the kind of big-screen grandeur that streaming services could hardly re-create.
Theatergoers are not required to wear masks, although many still wear them in crowded concession lines where social distancing isn’t very feasible. Most theaters automatically block off space between reserved seats, so many moviegoers say they feel safe removing their masks to eat and enjoy the film.
Box-office takes have been surging in recent weeks. The third installment in the “Conjuring” series grossed $24 million domestically last weekend, besting the “Quiet Place” sequel’s $19 million in sales during the same period, according to the website Box Office Mojo, which tracks box-office receipts. “In the Heights,” which opens this weekend, is also expected to draw a large audience.
“I would never trade watching movies at home rather than coming to the theater, especially if it’s a big movie,” says Akeem Bloomfield, who watched the new “Conjuring” film at Silverspot Cinema in Coconut Creek with his girlfriend, Maya Stephens.
While Bloomfield and Stephens made do watching films at home during the pandemic, they couldn’t stay away from theaters for long. They insisted on seeing the new “Conjuring” movie at Silverspot instead of on HBO Max — where it debuted the same day — because of their love for the theater experience, from the surround sound to the menu offerings of burgers and flatbreads.
Rafael Brito tagged along with his friend Gabriel Lima to watch “Cruella” on Memorial Day Weekend, and they came back less than a week later for “A Quiet Place Part II.”
Brito says he expected a lot of people to come because the films were having world premieres, but he was still surprised to see the turnout during the pandemic.
“We couldn’t wait anymore,” says Brito, of Margate, who went to movie theaters at least once a week pre-pandemic. Because of new theater upgrades, people feel safer flocking to theaters for its familiar trappings, he says.
Surging theater attendance wasn’t the only aspect of the cinematic experience that has changed since theaters first reopened late last summer.
Movie theaters have accounted for customer’s differing COVID-19 concerns with private theater rentals, assigned seating, extra sanitation and more space between parties’ seats as they purchase tickets, says Maverick McSparin, an operating partner at DB Cinemas in Deerfield Beach.
“You come for the smell of the popcorn, you come for that carbonated drink,” McSparin says. “You come for the people around you, laughing at the same time that the movies are going on, and the reactions.”
Paulina Aguiar and Raluis Gonzalez trekked to the movies at Silverspot on their day off from work to see “A Quiet Place Part II.” They craved a change “from the living room that we’ve been staring at for 18 months,” Aguiar says. “We haven’t been to the movies in a while,” Gonzalez admits. Before the pandemic, they also frequented movie theaters at least weekly, and they’re looking forward to catching new flicks as they roll out this summer. As people come back for movies on the big screen, theaters will be ready, says Sandra Pascual, Silverspot Cinema’s marketing director. She says she saw moviegoers welcome theaters again with “open arms.”
“If last week’s numbers were any indication of how healthy the cinema space is, we’re looking forward to an amazing summer,” she says.
This story was published June 8, 2021 in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Comments